Metro-North is dismissing claims that it should have taken measures to prevent a 2013 derailment along the Spuyten Duyvil curve soon after it suspended an engineer for speeding along the same section of track eight years before.

The commuter rail’s claim comes in its latest response to a $10 million federal lawsuit filed by former Metro-North engineer William Rockefeller in 2016.

Rockefeller, a Columbia County resident with ties to Rhinebeck, dozed off at the controls of Hudson Line Train 8808 on Dec. 1, 2013, leading to a derailment that killed four passengers and injured dozens.

His lawsuit says Metro-North was effectively notified of potential dangers along the curve when another engineer was disciplined for speeding through the same area in 2005, sending passengers sliding across seats.

Metro-North lawyer Andrew Keaveney attacked Rockefeller’s position in court papers filed last week in U.S. District Court in White Plains.

“There is no evidence that Metro-North knew or should have known of a potential hazard in operating train #8808 at or about the Spuyten Duyvil curve on Dec. 1, 2013,” Keaveney writes. “The discovery demonstrates that there was no notice of any defect or hazard that caused plaintiff’s injury.”

A Metro-North train derailed along the Hudson River in December 2013, killing four.(Photo: File photo/The Journal News)

Keaveney notes that the 2005 speeding incident, which did not lead to a derailment, was not enough “to establish notice that a derailment would occur in the future.”

Instead, Keaveney says Rockefeller bears full responsibility for the crash.

“The one and only cause for the accident is plaintiff’s failure to perform his job of controlling the speed of the train,” Keaveney writes.

His train was going 82 mph along a section of track marked for 30 mph when it derailed. Rockefeller was cleared of criminal charges by Bronx prosecutors in 2015 and did not face disciplinary proceedings before retiring from his $100,000-a-year job with pensions from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority and the federal Railroad Retirement Board.

Metro-North is asking U.S. District Court Judge Vincent Briccetti to dismiss Rockefeller’s lawsuit. And the railroad is counter-suing Rockefeller for some $10 million in repairs and replacement costs for its train.

Rockefeller’s lawyer, Ira Maurer, has declined to comment on the litigation.

Both sides are expected back in court on June 12.

Pivotal evidence

The 2005 speeding incident has become a pivotal piece in Rockefeller’s lawsuit.

In September, The Poughkeepsie Journal/Journal News reported that after engineer Angela Manley-Harris was suspended for speeding in 2005, her boss went to higher-ups at Metro-North and urged them to install a signal system that would automatically put the brakes on speeding trains.

But Joseph Riley, who supervised the work of Metro-North engineers, says his bosses rejected his suggestion because they feared it would interfere with the commuter rail’s ability to get trains into stations on time.

“I expressed it and the people who make things happen turned it down because quote unquote it would slow trains down,” Riley said in September.

“I got paid very well for my opinion,” Riley added. “To sit by and say nothing I think there’s a lot more wrong with that.”

After the accident, Metro-North installed an automatic braking system on the Spuyten Duyvil curve as well as other curves along its 775 miles of track.

Riley has already given a deposition in Rockefeller’s lawsuit. A trial date has not been set.